


the loveliest flavour, that's you

by mlnghao (orphan_account)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal Life, Angst, Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Romance, cute ice cream parlour boys idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 11:09:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14747702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/mlnghao
Summary: “Lucas, you'll be guiding the new guy, he's a little shy but don't worry about it.” No, he wasn't shy, and of course Lucas had to worry about it - in which Jungwoo was encouraged to apply for a job, working at the local animal themed ice cream parlour.





	the loveliest flavour, that's you

**Author's Note:**

> i'm trying my best to be careful with my words here so please, please, please let me know if anything here discomforts you/doesn't meet up to your standards - this is my first nct fic and i'm not very good at writing in general (sorry for cringe title).
> 
> just to clarify for everyone who writes their dates differently - day.month.year

* * *

_**03.02.18** _

**jungwoo.**

 

“Was he cute?”

“Yuta, please...”

“Hmmmm?”

“He’s just my buddy.”

“Was he hot?”

“This is the most cringe conversation I've ever had with you.”

“He was hot, wasn't he?”

Yuta teased, flashing his signature smile (however in this case, a mischevious grin) causing Jungwoo to heavily sigh, tempted to leave the room right then and there. Yuta and Jungwoo were tied to the hip, if there was Jungwoo - there'd always be Yuta right beside. The latter was always there for him, providing moral support, his efforts were always appreciated and never taken for granted. Jungwoo trusted Yuta, being close best friends and all, he trusted him enough to vent to him on a regular basis if needed - same, vice versa. 

And at this moment, they were seated comfortably in the library, having nothing else better to do.

Jungwoo buried his face into the book, his true intentions of hiding his it - now dusted with shades of pink - disguised as reading. Yuta nudged his foot underneath the table, it didn't fool him, not one bit. Ironically enough, he could read the boy like an open book. 

“So, what's his name?” Yuta persisted, not taking any hints.

He huffed, rolling his eyes, “Why do  _you_ need to know?” 

“Getting sassy now, are we? Just tell me his name and we can drop this convo'.”

Lucas, Xuxi, Yukhei, three names. Three. Fucking. (Cool, cute, extremely cool). Names. Which one was he supposed to say? All three? The first one he introduced himself with? Which one sounded better rolling off his tongue? In his personal opinion, “Lucas.” sounded best. Jungwoo looked up from the pages, scanning Yuta's expression - and sure enough, it was one full of mischief. 

“Lucas? Hm, sounds... okay enough in my book, how was he like? How were the others?”

 

_**02.02.18** _

**lucas.**

 

This was his work place, a now daily place for him to be stationed at. Partly against his will but that didn't matter now. It was his own decision to work at a parlour that served ice cream and a few additional other treats to accompany the chilling dessert. But it wasn't just a boring themed regular parlour. There were a variety of cute little animal stickers, posters, the napkins weren't an exception, designs all over the place. Even the entrance was strangely designed similarly to a cat flap, the frame being littered with paw-prints.

It had only recently opened up so there were fresh new customers every day, and stations still open for hire. 

And every employee had to wear a specific apron, with an [embroidered cat](http://www.spoon-tamago.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/hiroko-kubota-3_1.jpg) peeping out from the pockets.

“Lucas, get your ass over here! Boss wants you.”

“Waaaait, I'm just finishing up, I accidentally mixed up the flavours...”

“Again? How hard is it to properly label flavours of ice cream!?”

“You have  _no_ right to say that, Dong fucking Sicheng, you literally mixed up chocolate for strawberry the other day.”

He retorted, untying the knot of his apron before slipping it off and hanging it on the peg next to his fellow co-worker, Sicheng's. It was always like this at work, always catching the attention of every single customer, all eyes on them, whilst they bickered back and forth in their shared mother tongue. 

Lucas quickly entered the room, the door being labelled with STAFF ONLY (designed with Sicheng’s pretty, small handwriting and Lucas’ shitty yet still somehow fitting teddy bear doodles). He closed the door behind him, accidentally with a loud slam, turning around to see that he had alarmed his Boss, Sicheng with a disapproving  expression and... um, who exactly?

His Boss cleared his throat, walking over to Lucas and resting his hand on his shoulder, standing still (with his suit printed with bunny stickers and pastel patches) not saying anything, which ensued a rather awkward silence. Lucas glanced towards his Boss, then Sicheng, before his eyes landed on the new boy. He didn’t return his gaze, looking down at his shoes. 

The silence was thankfully broken, “Lucas, you’ll be guiding the new guy, he’s a little shy but don’t worry about it.” Wait, what, why, why him.  It was only his fourteenth day on the job and he already had to help a newbie, being a newbie himself. And it certainly didn’t help that Sicheng had a knowing smirk on his face as he watched his mini panick and expression morph into disbelief. 

Lucas shook his head in refusal, “Doyoungie... why can’t, uh, Sicheng or Mark... or even Johnny guide him instead? Why does it have to be me?” 

“First of all, I am your hyung. Second of all, I am your Boss. And lastly, because your timetable matches with his. Your shifts start and end almost the exact same days and times. I make the decisions around here, not you, Dumbo the elephant lookin’ ass - deal with it.” ...Fair enough.

Lucas sighed, shoulders temporarily hunched, before relaxing and walking towards him - he felt Doyoung's and Sicheng's eyes burning holes into his back, they expected a good, kind and solid introduction. Okay, he can do this. Just say hello, shake his hand, smile and don't stutter. Oh, and why not throw in his other two names, that would sound like a pretty cool and unique way to introduce himself, he thought.

“Hi, I have three names,” he cleared his throat then proceeded to use a deafeningly loud tone. Because apparently the louder you are, the friendlier you are - in his book. “Lucas, Xuxi and Yukhei, you can call me whichever one you want.” He held out his hand, baring a friendly toothy smile, waiting for the boy to actually look up at him.

But he didn't. 

“Nice to meet you, my name's Jungwoo.” Jungwoo sounded really friendly, his tone was warm and Lucas felt instantly relaxed as he held his hand, returning the gesture. Lucas nodded, still expecting Jungwoo to face him. His head was still down, looking at their connected hands rather than meeting Lucas' gaze, his smile dropped. “Sorry for troubling you, you don't have to be guiding me if you don't want to-"

“Don't apologise, it's fine!” The taller boy reassured, patting him gently on the shoulder as they let go of each other, Jungwoo's arms dropping by his sides. “I should be the one saying sorry. I overreacted, but don't worry - I'll guide you around the work place, follow me!”

Sicheng and Doyoung exchanged glances, agreeing that his introduction was way too extra. Nonetheless, it was friendly enough to gain Jungwoo's trust as he followed him out of the room. Once the two had left, they both started cracking up, bursting out fits of laughter and snickers. “ _My name's Lucas also known as Xuxi also known as Yukgay!”_ they mocked, ah, how boring and dull the work place would be without the friendly giant's booming voice. 

 

_**03.02.18** _

**jungwoo.**

 

“-as soon as he guided me out of the staff room, I could hear Doyoung and Sicheng laughing together and doing their best Lucas impressions. I held myself back from giggling because he was about to explain how the ice cream machine works.” Jungwoo giggled, resting his chin on both palms, gaze all dreamy and bright as he rambled about how cute a flustered Lucas looked when he accidentally broke the blender mid-explanation. 

“That's nice to hear, Jungwoo, it really is. But one question, did you face him?”

“Not really, I kind of just... looked down at the floor the entire time, y'know? He's just really, really handsome, like whoa his eyes are so big and round and I kept staring when he wasn't looking because how could you not stare at not only how beautiful his eyes were but also-”

Yuta cut him off before he started rambling off 'till tomorrow, “Okay, okay, you're completely in awe of his Greek God looks. I get it!”

Jungwoo paused, closing his mouth, the pink on his face now deepened to a dark scarlet at his words. “S-So, yeah, he's a nice guy... I don't want him to see how I look compared to him. I don't look as handsome... what if he doesn't like my face at all and quits the job completely? I just can't risk that! Should I wear a face mask on Monday or-”

Yuta frowned, shaking his head in disapproval at his friend's choice of words. “No, no, no Jungwoo. You don't need that! Look up at him, face him properly. Trust me, just give him a little smile, smiles are always pretty and wonderful. Smiles look good on everybody, understand? Why d'ya think I make girls drop dead, huh?” He flashed a second killing smile, lightening the mood completely, making Jungwoo smile himself. Smiles were contagious, he had to admit, especially Yuta's smiles, the smiles of his bestestestestest (indeed a word in Jungwoo's dictionary) friend. 

Then they were laughing, uncontrollably and way louder than they're supposed to be. Jungwoo felt blessed to have a friend like Yuta. 

Even if it did lead to being kicked out of the library, again.  

 

_**04.02.18** _

**lucas.**

 

Lucas flopped onto his rather messy bed, in contrast to his organised and spotless room. It was just how he liked it, how he liked things.

Not everything about something had to be perfect in order to satisfy him, he liked things different, never really followed the idea of being ordinary - he doesn't like that word, especially when someone describes themselves using it. He believes everyone is unique and has their own little features that make themselves stand out, as cringe as that sounded, he does in fact believe that's true. 

No, Lucas isn't some emotional, motivational speaker. At least, that's what he thought he wasn't. He just had his own way of viewing people, he can always find something special and great about anybody he meets.

Wait, shit, not the time to be blessing the Lord about how beautiful people are. 

He reached into his pocket, grabbing his phone, swiping the device open, scrolling through his contacts.  

 

 **19:55 |** **me**

_Hello_

_Jungwoo, hello???_

 

Okay, he sounded really fucking lost with the way he was texting. Too many question marks, he quickly swiped onto the message to delete it but he noticed that Jungwoo had already seen the message, now online, Lucas felt a little guilty for notifying and texting him this late into the evening.

Why exactly was he so stressed about how he sounded over text? Anyway, the boy was probably busy doing his own important things, unlike Lucas who had completely forgotten that he was supposed to call the other boy, completely distracted with marathoning  _Care Bears._ Yes, go ahead and laugh, he still watched  _Care Bears._ For stress relief.  

 

**_19:56 |_ newbie**

_wut_

_oh heyyyy lucass!! :D_

_wanna call?_

**_19:56 |_ me**

_Okay_

 

The reason why they were calling in the first place was to discuss what they should call the newest flavour on their menu. Also known as ‘N.C.T’s (which stood for Neo Culture Treaties’, yes, Treat _ies_ ) most expensive special dessert. The dessert was created by Lucas literally just spilling random ingredients into the mixer purely by accident, proceeded by Sicheng walking in and screeching in horror (but hey, everything worked out in the end and it tasted just right). Lucas knew he wasn't the most creative person around so he thought to himself before ending his shift, why not put his head _together_ with Jungwoo and think of a name together instead? He thought it was a pretty good idea, praising himself.

Why didn't he ask for his help during his shift? Well, because he knew the soft, yes he just called his co-worker that he literally just met two days ago soft, boy would probably feel more comfortable talking to him over a line instead of face to face. Right, talking face to face with Jungwoo was something that never left his thoughts ever since they first shook hands. Jungwoo's hands were warm, not too warm, his palm was really smooth too. Lucas gulped, hoping that his own palm was smooth like his, even though he already begrudgingly accepted the fact that both his palms were rough. He had no idea why he was thinking back to the small five second hand shake on Friday. 

Lucas felt creepy, wanting to know every single detail about Jungwoo's supposed “shyness” as it was labelled. Lucas knew that wasn't exactly the right term to be using in this situation, he understood that. Or maybe he was just being delusional, falsely convinced that he knew everything about and how simple yet not so simple _human behaviour_ is to decipher. He wanted to know, he really wanted to know and make him feel more comfortable at the job. He wanted to see Jungwoo's face, clear, looking straight at him. 

That is, if he hasn't already lowered his reputation as a “responsible" and “experienced” employee, despite having worked there for less than a month. God he looked like such a fool in front of him, so awkward, in the time they spent with each other.

He couldn't help but reflect back to how clumsy he was while showing Jungwoo the ropes of the parlour. Extremely clumsy. He groaned, painfully reminding himself of Doyoung scolding him about how he had to pay for the repairs of the blender that he somehow destroyed - actually, there wasn't any need of 'somehow'. Sure, it was a wonder, but definitely not something to question, it wasn't a new thing for him to do. But why, just why, out of all times, he had to break it right then and there in the presence of his new co-worker. Lucas was one hundred and ten percent sure that Jungwoo stifled a snort, face-palming and questioning why he had to be such a mess at the worse times. 

What was he supposed to be doing again? Calling the boy that was currently in every single one of his thoughts at the moment, of course. He tapped the dial button twice, since when and why are his palms and fingertips sweating so much?

The call was received, “Hey, Jungwoooo!” Lucas prayed that they were on good enough terms for him to be extending the o's in his name like that. Shit, there was no reply. He shouldn't have-

“Sorry, the audio cut off for a second.”

Never-mind, never-mind, we good.

"Anyway, hi Lucas!" A giggle. Whoa, music to his hears honestly, okay Lucas you're doing a good job right now. “Let's start thinking of names for your very amazing creation, yeah?” Was he being sarcastic. Lucas thinks he's being sarcastic, but what if he genuinely thinks that the flavour he made was 'very amazing creation'? Wait, fuck, no- 'very amazing' he corrected, his brain needs to fix the fuck up. 

“Uh,” Why did he just 'uh'. Why. “yeah, did you have any suggestions?”

There were a few moments of silence, he assumed Jungwoo was in deep thought - thinking of creative titles for his creation.  _His_ creation, the one _he_ \- Lucas - made. Lucas smiled at the thought, he was a total loser right now, getting all happy over the littlest thing. 

“Xuxi sounds pretty nice.” Oh.

“Oh, thanks, my Mom's good at naming I guess.”

“N-No, Lucas, for the ice cream. I think it should be called Xuxi.” OH. 

Lucas stopped breathing for half a second, his body curling up in embarrassment, what exactly did he say again? That his Mom was good at naming things? What the _fuck_ was that supposed to mean?! “Xuxi, yeah, Xuxi! Thanks, I'll tell Doyoung tomorrow!” He coughed right after he replied, thinking he sounded _way_ too excited, further embarrassing himself. How many times does he have to feel embarrassed for whatever holy being up there to be satisfied. “Really, uh,” there it is again. “yeah it's great, thanks.”

“No problem!” Lucas felt his heart clench. “so, is that it?” Why did he feel his heart clench, why did his tummy feel all... how does he describe it? Maybe Sicheng punched him a little too hard earlier. Well, he couldn't blame his fellow co-worker for doing that, it was his own fault, dropping the entire tub of vanilla ice cream onto his shoes. He has to pay for not only the blender but those shoes too, he reluctantly re-noted.

“Mhm, yeah, I guess. Ah, we could've just thought this over text but whatever right? Hahaha...!” Lucas' laughter trailed off, making the conversation ten thousand times more awkward than it already was. At least, he thought it did.

“Your laugh is so cute Lucas, you're making me laugh too!” And sure enough he heard the giggles of a pure, soft puppy over the call (what). “it was nice talking to you, have a good night, I'll see you tomorrow.”

“You too, see you as well- _oh you already hung up that’s okay_...” Lucas switched off his phone, quitely resting it on the bed side table, then proceeded to not so quietly scream inhumanely into the pillows. Still, the pillows weren’t enough to surpress his voice, because now his neighbour next door was now banging on the wall, infuriated.

Lucas muttered an apology, not towards his neighbour, but to himself for not only having acted like a fool in front of Jungwoo, but furthermore sounding like one too over a less than ten minute phone call. 

 


End file.
